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BA is Mistaken That Paying Players is Good Policy
BA has stated that he is in favor of paying players for the use of their images. On the surface that seems fair but the policy comes with many unintended consequences related to recruitment, player transfers, and enforcement. For example, the California law looks different from legislative bills being considered in 11 or more states. How does the NCAA enforce what ever policies each state legislates? Its crazy but several national media representatives that support these laws have stated that players are being paid under the table already so just make paying them legal. Well everybody speeds so lets just take away all speeding limits? So what does the future look like? Mr. 5 star player decides to go to the highest bidder. Then the next year if some other school's booster offers significantly more he just transfers and sits out a year, or not if he can make up some story for the NCAA.
Comments
At the end of the day, the players are playing a game that research has undoubtedly proven damages their health.
Player welfare is more important than the fans feelings about the game.
You make some good points. However, for me the consideration being left out is the value of a college education being received by the players. What is it worth for a player to receive a free college education at UGA including cost of attendance cash? For many universities it would be over a hundred thousand dollars. What needs to happen is the NFL to start a minor league for players who have no interest in more education. That would prepare those star players for the league and they could be paid for their services. Regarding their health, no one is forcing players to play the game. Some play to get a free education but many probably play because they want to try for the league or they just love the game.
Hopefully the XFL will present a viable option for freshmen and sophomores
The college education isn't comparable to what they would get otherwise. In Georgia especially, any of these players who qualify for the HOPE scholarship/Zell Miller scholarship it is a terrible deal. Even OOS guys like Nakobe Dean could have likely gotten scholarship money regardless.
The NFL could start a minor league/let guys come in straight, but that would actually cheapen college football. People don't wanna watch bums play football. Yes no one is forcing them to play, but it also a raw deal and with no other (realistic) option for a football player, they don't really have a choice save not playing.
P.S. These days, the college education really isn't worth it in a sizable % of cases. I say that as a UGA grad. Depending on your individual degree determines if it is worth "the value" of the cost, but most football players don't have the time to major in something that is worth that value.
The way the likeness rule is written is like opening a can of worms and I can see it being used inappropriately very quickly. Say player 1 is looking at schools A and B for football. School A has a booster who is willing to pay the player $5,000 monthly to come to a get together at his place under the pretenses of signing autographs and taking photos. It could become an arms race where the pockets of the boosters control everything.
The NCAA could easily give these kids a set wage that is standard across the board and be done with this state by state nonsense. Pay any scholarship athlete that is competing for the school x amount per hour while they are involved in any team activities. At this point it is going to be the only way to level the playing field, the cat is out of the bag. Expecting these kids to play a sport, focus on classes, and have a job for spending money is a little excessive when the sport you play takes up most of your time. In the end maybe we can even get EA to start making NCAA Football again but that may be wishful thinking.
While there's some argument about what would be the best for the sport... I don't think that really factors in here. We're simply looking at the legality of it.
There's basically 2 possibilities... players are either employees or they are not.
If they are employees, having all the colleges join together to limit what colleges can pay their employees is a clear violation of anti-trust law.
If they are not employees (and are like any other student on an academic, band or theater scholarship), it's probably not legal for them to restrict their ability to find employment (which is what endorsements are). My academic scholarships to UGA did not impact my ability to find employment in any way... I just had to keep my grades up. Athletes have to play football to keep their scholarship. Band scholarship guys have to play in the band. From what I've seen, it's very hard to use a contract to restrict someone's ability to find employment even if it IS an employment contract. It's pretty much impossible if it's not.
The NCAA has been able to kind of jump between the two categories to avoid both legalities for a while... but I think that's coming to an end regardless. Everywhere else in the world, amateurism is defined as not being paid for competing... but there's never a requirement to not be paid for endorsement. Mary Lou Retton and Mark Spitz were paid to be on wheeties boxes even though they still competed in amateur athletics... because being paid for fame is not the same as being paid for sport.
We better win a natty before all this changes.... there are much bigger fish ponds than GA and a UGA ....
we will be second tier at best .... that’s a fact
I believe this is the latest ruling in Federal District Court related to this issue.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/26199067/judge-rules-ncaa-antitrust-lawsuit
I’m not sure the value of the education is relevant here. The CA bill doesn’t require the schools to pay the players. It allows the player to benefit monetarily from his NLI. A student on a full academic or other scholarship is free to profit off of his or her NLI currently. Athletes should be afforded the same opportunities.
The NCAA may eventually lose their anti-trust exemptions. At what point will restricting fair market payment of athletes for their likeness etc. be allowed? Most likely the NCAA will back off and establish some level of maximum reimbursement and other restrictions. However, eventually a state that believes there must be total free market payment for these gladiators will take them back to Federal Court. Its a slippery slope.
Capitalism is a good thing. The schools are not paying the players.
I understand the NY legislation being considered requires schools to pay half their total revenue to the athletes. Maybe a federal law would be more sensible. Well, maybe not.
Why not just let player go pro out of high school like baseball does. For some of them (mostly basketball) this eliminates the need to pay them. Most of all it keeps the big corporations (See Nike and Oregon) from just saying if you go here we will pay you $XXXX.
Baseball has a system that works and would be easy to mirror. Kids would have to choose between $ and an education/development. The NFL would still heavily draft 3rd year college players because that is who is ready for the league